• Hand managed vineyards
• Organically grown
• Organically produced
• Sustainability in viticulture, winemaking
• Allow the fruit and the wines to express unique terroir of our property
• Allow fruit and the wines to express the season
• Allow wines to develop and age in proper underground cellar conditions
• Promote biodiversity by revegetating the creek with native flora and create habitat for native wildlife

Sustainability is fundamental to our philosophy. We can see that taking the traditions of the region and its early settlers and applying our own values, philosophies of hand management and organics is sustainable. Our management of our property is a very personal hands on approach, which is defined by organic practises and holistic land management.

Each vine is treated individually. We believe that each vine requires individual attention when it comes to pruning, canopy and bunch management, summer pruning and harvesting. Our Loan Wines come from grapes that are hand-picked, vines that are hand managed.

The journey of our fruit does not end after being harvested from the vines. Allowing the wines to develop in our underground cellars is paramount to their further evolution in both barrel and bottle.

At the age of 17, Richard had the opportunity to retain and develop the potential of the family property, site of one of the Barossa’s earliest settlements in the heart of the Bethany sub-region. With an open mind and unbiased approach to farming, Richard went on to develop his own style of hand management and the end result is a beautiful, unique, organically run property and Loan Wines.

History of the property and Loan Wines in brief:

• The property was settled by Aldenhoven/Fiedler family who worked for the first winemakers in the Barossa
• Original cottage and cellar built in 1842
• Richard’s grandparents obtained property in 1930’s, from whom Richard took over the estate when deceased
• Richard spent years cleaning up and getting the paddocks ready for planting
• 1991 first cuttings made ready from Old Shiraz Vines. Grapes from these vines had been supplied to Rockford since 1989)
• 1992 planted Creek Flat Shiraz
• 1993 planted Semillon
• 1993 planted Creek Flat Alicante Bouchet
• 1996 planted Front Block Shiraz and Alicante Bouchet
• 1996 certified “A” grade Organic Certification
• 1998 Started renovating and restoring original settler’s cottage
• 2001 began building cellar extensions and house
• 2002 cellar extensions completed
• Nov 25, 2003 first bottling under “LOAN” label, 2001 Front Block Shiraz